blow out” or “to extinguish.” What is being “blown out” or “extinguished” are the

personal desires that lead to suffering. In short, the cessation of our psychological

suffering can be achieved through the process of enlightenment.

Marga , the fourth noble truth, refers to the Eightfold path one must take in

order to achieve Nirvana. The path is the Buddha’s prescription for living and the

way to freedom from mental afflictions and the elimination of emotional suffering.

The Eightfold path includes:

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Right understanding or accurate awareness into the reality of life; right thought or aspiration; right speech, speaking truthfully and compassionately; right action, abstaining from killing, lying, stealing, adultery, and misuse of intoxicants; right livelihood, engaging in occupations that promote, rather than harm life; right effort, or the balanced effort to be aware; right mindfulness, seeing things as they are; and right concentration, or meditative attentiveness (Rubin, 18).

The path develops people’s moral and intellectual acuity which in turn will lead them

to a blissful state of inner peace and freedom. It is not enough for one to realize the

path and understand it, but “to follow it and keep to it” (Rahula, 50). In this sense,

perhaps, Buddhism can be better viewed as a way of life rather than as a specific

type of treatment.

Buddhism since the Buddha

The Buddha died an old man around the year 483 B.C.E., and, according to

legend, his last words were consistent with the message he spent the majority of his

life spreading: “Decay is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence”

(Capra, 96). After his death, Buddhism became the dominant spiritual tradition in

many parts of Southern and Southeast Asia. Buddhism is practiced by people in Sri

Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan, and the countries of Indochina as well

(Capra, 93). To date Buddhism claims over 500 million followers throughout the

world, which makes it the planet’s third most popular religion. Ironically, one of the

few places in the Eastern world where Buddhism has not flourished is the place of its

birth, India, where Hinduism still remains the dominate religion among its people.

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More recently Buddhism has found its way to the Western world as well during the

last century. Obviously, as this paper repeatedly states, modern psychology and

other related fields within academia have developed an interest in what Buddhism

has to offer.

Despite Buddhism’s success around the globe, there have been many internal

problems. Since the Buddha himself did not write anything down in his lifetime, after

Buddha’s death there was much controversy among his followers concerning his

exact message. This caused Buddhism to split into many different schools of thought

(each with their own unique perspective about what the Buddha exactly said and

what he meant when he said it). Simply put, after the Buddha’s death, Buddhism did

not remain a single doctrine or a monolithic universal theory. As Jeffrey Rubin states,

In the 2500 years since its inception it has developed into different systems of theory and practice. The evolution of Buddhism resembles, in a certain sense, the banyan tree, with offshoots of the taproot (reinterpretations of Buddha’s teachings) generating new branches that extend in various directions (3).

Buddhism has influenced, and has been influenced by, the socio‐cultural

atmosphere of virtually every country in Asia. Buddhism touches and is touched by

each society as it passes through by those wanting to spread the Buddha’s message.

The consequence of these people working to pass on his message to more and more

places resulted in more than a dozen different schools of Buddhist thought. However,

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it seems that in no matter what form Buddhism is expressed, whether it be the

Tibetans, the Zen school of Japan, the Chan school in China, or the Theravada school

of India, the Four Noble Truths are always at the core of what is taught. Since this

seems to be the essence of Buddhist thinking, regardless of the school, this will be

my major point of reference when discussing Buddhism and Western Psychotherapy.

Even though schools may differ on the meaning of different areas concerning specific

content, most will not argue that Buddhism’s focus has always been on

understanding the human mind in order to reduce its suffering.

An Overview of Buddhist Insights and Techniques

Buddhist theories and techniques can be seen as a form of mysticism;

however, they can also be seen as practical advice for helping people deal with the

typical problems found in everyday life (Reynolds, vi). As we will see, some of these

theories and techniques are similar to those found in Western Psychology. Even

though these ideas are similar, they are not identical, and, therefore, they may be

able to offer some insights into Western psychotherapy.

Mind and the Formation of the Self

When Buddhists speak of mind ( mano ), or more specifically, when they say

human beings possess a mind, they are not implying the existence of an eternal soul

or an ever‐lasting entity that persists across different lifetimes as seen in many of the

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world’s religions. In other words, as seen in many other religions and systems of

thought, Buddhists do not posit the existence of a permanent self ( atman ) just

because one has a mind. When they refer to the human mind, they are describing a

complicated psycho‐physical system ( nama ‐rupa) that consists of five individual parts

( skandas) that come together for a brief period of time that may create the illusion of

selfhood. Four of these parts are psychological, or non ‐material, elements, and

Sensation refers to the approach‐avoidance feelings we have towards objects;

perception is the mind’s propensity to construct a world through mental concepts;

habituation is the conditioning that occurs by our past experiences resulting in

habitual patterns of behavior; and consciousness is the dualistic awareness that

occurs as the result of experience. This last aspect is where we see the fatal mistake

of believing that our mind is a separate, independent entity from the outer

experience that takes place before our eyes, ears, nose, etc. (Rahula, 20‐23). The last

part is the material element that includes the concrete objects of sensation, or simply

put, the physical matter that we can sense ( rupa ) that can be manifested in different

forms of energy such as light waves, sound waves, heat, etc. Matter is necessary to

stimulate the four non ‐ material elements. However, just as the non ‐material

elements are contingent upon the stimulation of external forces to come into being,

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the matter from the external world is equally conditional upon the non ‐ material

elements to give physical energy its unique form. Padmasiri De Silva writes in his

work An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology that “the mental and physical

constituents form one complex, and there is a mutual dependency of the mind on

the body and of the body on the mind” (16).

In other words, all five parts of the process are interdependent upon one

another to create the experience of an independent, autonomous self. While this

occurrence is taking place, some aspect of the experience sets itself apart and

considers it a separate entity and mistakenly believes itself to be independent, or

apart, from its environment. Inevitably, this conditioned entity takes ownership of

the experience as if these events are happening to “him.” This bifurcation of the

moment is created by the psycho‐physical systems of the mind and is where the

concept of the self first arises.

The mind splits the unity of the experience into two separate parts: self and

object or self and other. Or to say it another way, the conscious organism creates a

false or inaccurate distinction between one’s internal subjective experience and the

experience of objective reality that appears to be the product of the external world.

As the result of this experience, the mind mistakenly believes that these entities are

clearly distinguishable and separate from one another.

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This separation of the inner and outer world is created by the mind which

causes the idea of an independent self to arise. Since this notion of selfhood is an

illusion, problems inevitably occur. The central problem is that one mistakenly

believes the abstract self (i.e. the self that appears to be unified and stable and has

its own personal existence apart from its environment) is more real than the

concrete self (i.e. the self that is always changing and subject to the laws of cause

and effect). Buddhists believe that it is this ‘case of mistaken identity’ that is the

initial source of all the psychological suffering humans inescapably endure.

Newsweek science writer Sharon Begley summarizes this idea in her book Train Your

Mind, Change Your Brain . She states that:

The 5 aggregates are in a constant state of flux, never static, even for a moment. The notion that somehow the self will be less mutable is completely an illusion. The Buddha taught that recognition of non ‐self was a step towards ending personal suffering. (71)

In other words, the mind experiences the concrete world through its senses. The

mind cannot know the concrete world without the senses, but the mind can know

abstractions without the help of the senses. Beyond our five senses, the mind sees

abstractions in experience that the experience itself can’t fully or perfectly match.

Many religious traditions, including Hinduism, prioritize the abstract over the

concrete. According to Buddhism, this mistake in priority gives rise to all